Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Tohoku Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Yasutada Shitara

Takashi Fujita

Yoshihiro Norikane

Minoru Masuda

Yasuaki Iwamoto

Yohichiroh Watanabe

Kiyotada Katoh

Satoshi Takahashi

Andrew Mwaniki Mulwa

Shinji Aoki

Shinya Nakayama

Hyo Shu

Masaru Ohgaki

Ryota Inoue

Akihiro Kotsugai

Hiroyuki Kishida

Takahiro Honda

Yoshihiro Moriya

Keiji Makabe

Kenta Kenjoh

Kazuhiko Watanabe

Kazumi Suzuki

Nozomu Tamoto

Hiroshi Yamada

Yasuo Katano

Hitoshi Iwatsuki

Akira Saito

Akiyoshi Sabu

Yasuyuki Yamashita

Takuya Saito

Shingo Sakashita

Takashi Bisaiji

Masahide Inoue

Yukiko Nakajima

Shinnosuke Koshizuka

Shinji Ohtani

Teruki Kusahara

Takeo Yamaguchi

Tatsuru Moritani

Kiichi Kamoda

Haruki Saitoh

Akinori Saito

Kazufumi Kimura

Hijiri Ogata

Yuuki Kamon

Yuuya Endoh

Watanabe Yohichiroh

A fabrication method includes laminating a fabrication material to form an object, and applying a release material on a surface of the object to form a release layer on the surface of the object. A surface free energy of the release material is equal to or smaller than 25 mN/m.

Three-dimensional object fabrication method, fabrication apparatus, and fabrication system

A cleaner, such as provided in a particulate material production apparatus, for cleaning a droplet ejector, which includes nozzles to eject a particulate material composition liquid as droplets, and a nozzle plate bearing the nozzles. A substantially closed cleaning space is formed outside the nozzles and the nozzle plate, and a first cleaning liquid supplying device supplies a first cleaning liquid to the cleaning space so that the nozzles and the nozzle plate are contacted with the first cleaning liquid. In addition, a vibrator vibrates the first cleaning liquid when the nozzles and the nozzle plate are contacted with the first cleaning liquid to clean the nozzles and the nozzle plate.

Cleaner for cleaning droplet ejector, and particulate material production apparatus using the cleaner

Provided is a three-dimensional object formation powder material used for three-dimensional object formation of forming a three-dimensional object by stacking up a plurality of powder material layers each bound by a resin and having a predetermined shape. The three-dimensional object formation powder material contains particles in which a plurality of cores are fixed by a water-soluble resin.

Three-dimensional object formation powder material, three-dimensional object formation material set, and three-dimensional object production method

A cleaning method for cleaning a droplet ejector, which includes nozzles to eject a particulate material composition liquid, and a nozzle plate bearing the nozzles is provided. The cleaning method includes forming a substantially closed cleaning space outside the nozzles and the nozzle plate; supplying a cleaning liquid to the cleaning space so that the nozzles and the nozzle plate are contacted with the cleaning liquid; and vibrating the cleaning liquid when the nozzles and the nozzle plate are contacted with the cleaning liquid to clean the nozzles and the nozzle plate.

Method for cleaning droplet ejector, cleaner for cleaning droplet ejector, and particulate material production apparatus using the cleaner

A particulate material production method is provided. The particulate material production method includes ejecting a particulate material composition liquid, which includes an organic solvent and a particulate material composition including at least a resin and dissolved or dispersed in the organic solvent, from at least one nozzle to form droplets of the particulate material composition liquid in a gas phase; and solidifying the droplets of the particulate material composition liquid to prepare particles of the particulate material composition. The droplet solidifying step includes contacting the droplets with a poor solvent for the particulate material composition.

Particulate material production method, and particulate material production apparatus

The particulate material production method includes vibrating a particulate material composition liquid in a liquid column resonance chamber having at least one nozzle to form a standing wave in the particulate material composition liquid caused by liquid column resonance, so that droplets of the particulate material composition liquid are ejected in a droplet ejection direction from the nozzle so as to fly in a space in a flight direction; feeding a gas in a direction substantially perpendicular to the droplet ejection direction to change the flight direction of the ejected droplets; and solidifying the droplets in the space to produce a particulate material. The particulate material composition liquid includes at least a solvent and a component of the particulate material dissolved or dispersed in the solvent, and the nozzle is located at a location corresponding to an anitnode of the standing wave.

Particulate material production method and apparatus, toner production method and apparatus, and toner

A particulate material production apparatus is disclosed. The particulate material production apparatus includes a droplet ejector to eject droplets of a particulate material composition liquid or a melted particulate material composition in a droplet ejection direction from nozzles; a solidifying device to solidify the droplets; a first airflow forming device to form a first airflow to feed the ejected droplets to the solidifying device with the first airflow; and a second airflow forming device to form a second airflow to apply the second airflow the droplets before the droplets are fed by the first airflow. The second airflow forming device forms the second airflow by supplying a pressed gas from a slit, and the traveling direction of the first airflow is substantially perpendicular to the droplet ejection direction.

Particulate material production apparatus, and particulate material production method

An apparatus for manufacturing fine particles is provided. The apparatus includes a liquid droplet discharge device and a liquid droplet solidification device. The liquid droplet discharge device has multiple nozzles. The liquid droplet discharge device is adapted to discharge a liquid from the multiple nozzles to form the liquid into liquid droplets. The liquid comprises a solvent in which constituents of the fine particles are dissolved or dispersed or a melt of constituents of the fine particles. The liquid droplet solidification device is adapted to solidify the liquid droplets by an airflow. The multiple nozzles are arranged in a manner such that each of the nozzles does not overlap each other relative to a direction of the airflow.

Apparatus for manufacturing fine particles and toner

A method for producing resin particles, including ejecting a liquid containing at least a resin in the form of droplets from a droplet ejecting unit having a plurality of holes provided in a part of a flow channel for feeding the liquid containing at least a resin, and drying and solidifying the ejected droplets so as to obtain the resin particles, while the ejected droplets are transported by a primary transport air flow flowing in the direction in which the droplets are ejected, wherein the ejected droplets are further transported by a secondary transport air flow which transports the ejected droplets in a different direction from a direction in which the primary transport air flow flows, and wherein a smaller angle of angles formed between a velocity vector of the primary transport air flow and a velocity vector of the secondary transport air flow is less than 120 degrees.

Method for producing toner for developing electrostatic image and apparatus for producing resin particles

A droplet discharging device including a discharging hole to discharge droplets, a piezoelectric element that deforms with electrical charging and discharging to discharge droplets therefrom, a piezoelectric element drive circuit that drives the piezoelectric element to cause it to charge and discharge, wherein the piezoelectric element drive circuit has a control signal generating unit to generate control signals that control outputs of drive signals applied to the piezoelectric circuit and a drive signal output unit to output the drive signals applied to the piezoelectric element based on the control signals, wherein the drive signal output unit includes a first field effect transistor that operates to supply an electric current to the piezoelectric element based on the control signals when charging the piezoelectric element and a second field effect transistor that operates to discharge an electric current from the piezoelectric element based on the control signals when discharging the piezoelectric element.

Droplet discharging device and particle manufacturing device

A particulate production apparatus, including a droplet discharger to discharge a liquid including a particulate element which is solidified to become a particulate; and a pressure controller to feed the liquid including a particulate element to the droplet discharger at a pressure within a desired range.

Particulate production apparatus and particulate production method, and toner preparation apparatus and toner preparation method

A method of manufacturing toner is provided. In the method, toner constituents are dissolved or dispersed in an organic solvent to prepare a toner constituents liquid. The toner constituents liquid is degassed so that the toner constituents liquid includes dissolved oxygen in an amount of 3 mg/L or less. The toner constituents liquid is vibrated in a chamber having at least one nozzle to form a liquid column resonance standing wave in the toner constituents liquid. The toner constituents liquid is discharged from the nozzle disposed within an area including an antinode of the liquid column resonance standing wave to form the toner constituents liquid into liquid droplets. The liquid droplets are dried to solidify the liquid droplets into solid particles.

Method of manufacturing toner, apparatus for manufacturing toner, and method of manufacturing resin particles

An apparatus for producing a toner, including a liquid droplet-forming unit configured to discharge a toner composition liquid containing at least a resin and a colorant at a uniform discharge speed from a plurality of discharge holes some of which have different shapes from each other to thereby form liquid droplets, and a particle-forming unit configured to solidify the liquid droplets of the toner composition liquid to thereby form particles.

Method and apparatus for producing toner

A method of manufacturing a toner including supplying a fluid containing a resin and a coloring agent to a retaining member including a film having multiple discharge orifices, discharging droplets of the fluid from the multiple discharge orifices at a speed of from 2 to 4 m/s by applying a pulse voltage having a trapezoid waveform to a piezoelectric body having a surface provided substantially parallel to the film to move the surface in a direction away from the film relative to a reference position of the surface followed by holding the surface there for a predetermined time, and bringing the surface back to the reference position; and solidifying droplets of the fluid discharged from the multiple discharge orifices to form mother particles.

Method of manufacturing toner

A method of manufacturing toner is provided. The method includes preparing a toner constituents liquid by dissolving or dispersing toner constituents in an organic solvent. The toner constituents includes a binder resin and a charge controlling agent. The charge controlling agent includes a polycondensation product of a phenol with an aldehyde. The method further includes forming a liquid column resonance standing wave in the toner constituents liquid in a chamber having at least one nozzle by vibrating the toner constituents liquid. The method further includes forming the toner constituents liquid into liquid droplets by discharging the toner constituents liquid from the nozzle. The nozzle is disposed within an area including antinodes of the liquid column resonance standing wave. The method further includes removing the organic solvent from the liquid droplets to solidify the liquid droplets.

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Shizuoka, Japan

Yasutada Shitara